109: Chapter 109 The Golden Light Sweeps Towards the County Town

Inside the divine temple of Liuhe Village.

The villagers offering incense suddenly felt the incense ash on the offering table shaking and falling down in a rustle,

the joss sticks in the censer crooked, and the candlelight in the temple leaped up.

They walked out of the divine temple to the outside, and then raised their heads to see that figure.

A golden figure hovered in the sky above Liuhe Village, and the surrounding halo diffused layer by layer.

It cast golden light just like a great sun.

Qin Yin walked out of the temple, holding onto the door frame, raised her head, and looked at the golden figure hovering in mid-air.

This coercive pressure was too strong, so strong that even as a Second-turn Martial Artist, she felt her own insignificance in front of this coercive pressure.

But she did not lower her head; she tilted her face upward, letting that light fall on her face.

She felt that there was the aura of Lord Qinling in that light, even stronger than before!

She turned her head and looked at Qin Mo.

Qin Mo was also looking at her, and the gazes of the two collided, both seeing the same thing in each other's eyes.

That was joy.

Rejoicing that Lord Qinling was stronger than before, and that they, as believers, taking Liuhe Village was beneficial to Lord Qinling.

The golden figure hovering in the sky above Liuhe Village moved, rushing directly toward the direction of Guanhai County City.

It was just like a shooting star streaking across the sky.

The villagers of Liuhe Village raised their heads and stared at the wake of this golden figure, their eyes wide open.

Looking at the direction the golden light rushed toward, the same thought welled up in everyone's heart.

Guanhai County City!

Was Lord Qinling going to Guanhai County City?

Going to the place where the Evil Tree infested?

Qin Yin and Qin Mo watched the golden light streaking across the sky, their eyes full of surprise.

They also did not expect this scene to happen so suddenly.

The golden light transformed by the split soul of Qin Ling swept from Liuhe Village toward Guanhai County City.

And in the middle between Liuhe Village and Guanhai County City, all the villagers in every village noticed this golden light.

Zhao Family Village.

The village no longer looked like a village; more than half of the roofs had collapsed, and half of the courtyard walls had fallen.

Several villagers squatted under the foot of the wall, curled up, holding their heads, and trembling all over.

They had been squatting here for several days, not daring to make a fire, not daring to light lamps, and not daring to speak loudly.

Right at this moment, they heard a sound, not the hiss of parasitic creatures.

They raised their heads and saw a golden light flying from the east, sweeping across their heads, and rushing toward the west.

That light was too bright, so bright that they could not open their eyes, but they forced them open desperately, their tears streaming down from the stinging golden light, yet no one closed their eyes.

Under that pale black curtain, how long had it been since they last saw golden light!

An old man stood up from the foot of the wall, tilted his head back, and looked at the direction where the golden light disappeared, the afterimage of that light still lingering in his turbid eyes.

His lips trembled as he said,

"Th... What is that?"

Lishan Village.

The village was completely destroyed; all the roofs had collapsed, all the walls had fallen, and only a few pillars were still standing.

Several villagers were hiding in a cave in the back mountain of the village, having hid there for several days.

Right at this moment, they saw a golden light flying over, sweeping across their heads, and streaking toward the direction of Guanhai County City.

That light was too bright, so bright that they thought they saw the sun.

A young man poked his head out of the cave entrance, looking at the direction where the golden light disappeared, his eyes wide open.

"Is that a god?"

The middle-aged man behind him knelt on the ground, putting his hands together, his lips trembling, chanting "May the deities bless us" over and over again.

At this moment, they had nothing else they could do except pray for the blessing of the deities.

There were still far too many villages like this, and the villagers who survived by luck all saw that golden light.

...

Guanhai County City.

That Evil Tree stood tall in the very center of the county city, its trunk outrageously thick, as black as if it wanted to suck in all the surrounding light.

On the ground, the stone slabs were pushed up by roots and stems, shattering all over the place.

The county city was too large and the population was too numerous; although the Evil Tree had covered the entire county city, it could not swallow it all at once.

Those still alive hid in the corners of walls, in cellars, and in places where the roots and stems had not yet reached.

They did not live like humans, but like rats, like those hiding in the darkness, waiting for the daybreak.

In the back hall of the county yamen, the doors and windows were shattered, half of the roof had collapsed, and several roof beams were broken, sticking slantingly there.

The spirit tablet of the county magistrate was crooked in the corner of the wall, smeared with mud so that the words could not be seen clearly.

A person was squatting under the foot of the wall, leaning against the half-collapsed wall, lowering his head, clutching a piece of broken tile in his hand.

He was in rags, his hair was messy, and his face was smeared with mud and scabs of blood, making his facial features indistinguishable.

But from those ragged clothes, it could still be seen that he was Clerk Liu of Guanhai County City.

At this moment, in front of Lord Clerk, there was a rat, grayish-black, a circle larger than ordinary rats, with a round belly that was still twitching.

He used the broken tile to flip the rat over and began to slice from its belly; the skin was slashed open with a gap, revealing the pink flesh inside.

Then he placed the broken tile on the ground and used his fingers to tear the rat's skin off from the flesh, tearing very slowly and carefully, as if afraid of tearing the flesh.

Once upon a time, he was the clerk of Guanhai County City, below one person and above tens of thousands in the county.

But now he was squatting under the foot of the wall, with his fingers smeared with the rat's blood and minced meat, tearing the rat skin.

His fingers were shaking, not out of fear, but out of hunger.

He had not eaten anything for several days.

He tore off the rat skin, threw it on the ground, cut open the rat's belly with the broken tile, scooped out the internal organs, and threw them aside.

Afterward, he cut the rat's meat into small pieces with the broken tile and shoved them into his mouth.

In another place of the county city.

Guanhai County City, East Street, blacksmith shop.

Half of the shop had collapsed, and the furnace had long since gone cold.

Tie Lanshi sat on the threshold, leaning his back against the wall that had not yet fallen, lowering his head, clutching half a hard-as-rock flatbread in his hand.

The flatbread had been dug out from the ruins, unknown which household's hidden ration, pinned under bricks.

He broke off a small piece and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing for a long time, unable to swallow it because it was simply too dry.

Several other people were sitting beside him.

A middle-aged man wearing a gray short jacket had an unhealed wound on his arm.

He leaned against the foot of the wall, also clutching a piece of flatbread in his hand without eating it, staring at that piece of flatbread for a long time.

A young man in black martial attire squatted on the steps, holding a bowl and drinking water, but it could not stop his stomach from growling.

Originally, they were all Second-turn Martial Artists, and Tie Lanshi was even a Third-turn Martial Artist, holding the noble status of the patriarch of the Tieshan Sect.

But now, their vital energy and blood had all decayed, leaving only the vital energy and blood strength of a First-turn Martial Artist.

After being trapped by the Evil Tree, Tie Lanshi realized that the vital energy and blood of a Third-turn Martial Artist could not make him resist the Evil Tree, but instead would make him become the target of the Evil Tree because of his exuberant vital energy and blood.

Therefore, he did something that a martial artist was most reluctant to do.

That was to self-destruct his meridians and let the vital energy and blood in his body disperse.